


Once Upon A Time on Omega

by Mysti_Fogg



Series: Classics of Mass Effect [2]
Category: Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alien Mythology/Religion, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Goodbyes, Mass Effect 2, POV Garrus Vakarian, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Turian Spirits, fairytales - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 03:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14370189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysti_Fogg/pseuds/Mysti_Fogg
Summary: As the mercs close in on Garrus in his sniper's nest, he considers turian fairytales.





	Once Upon A Time on Omega

If they had met on Palaven, it would have been raining. He's certain of it.

Garrus looks at the remaining needle on the table beside him in his sniper's nest, trying to figure how best to ration the stim. 

Shepard would not approve. 

There should have been rain beating down on the Citadel the day that she arrived, except that it's a space station, not a planet, and so has no rain nor wind and has only an illusion of a sun. There was no way for the Spirits to herald her arrival in a place so disconnected from the elements. There was no way for them to tell him that the world was going to change.

 _The rains swept over the plains, and a woman followed after._

There were four ways to tell a story in the old style, one for each of the elements. Shepard's story would definitely begin with water falling from the sky, bringing relief from the harsh desert heat. The dry ground would crack as leafy vines shot up along the trellises, ensuring a feast for the poor. Hers would be a story of compassion.

His mind is going if he's focusing on a child's fantasy. 

It's quiet now in his sniper's nest. Just Garrus and a row of corpses to keep him company until the next advance. 

The mercs want to lull him to sleep before the next attack. 

Butler would have put his money on the Blood Pack to attack first, while Mierin would have favored the Eclipse. The Blue Suns are out of the running until their gunship is fixed.

It doesn't matter. Garrus'll have to close his eyes eventually. It has been 78 hours of combat, and the world has stopped making sense. His eyes droop. He needs this rest...

_The woman came across a detective puzzling over a case and said "Your worries will be my worries. Your cause will be my cause." And so he followed after._

__A rare breeze starts to blow through the asteroid of Omega. Rare because the atmosphere is contained deep within its surface. The cool air on his neck jolts him awake. Aria must have decided to turn on the fans for some reason._ _

__He can't take any more chances. Garrus takes the cap off of the last stim and slides it into the big vein in his neck with practiced ease. Everyone did it in C-Sec to keep up with the caseload. Except him. He was too new, too idealistic._ _

__Not anymore._ _

__Shepard would forgive him for his mistakes: The abandonment of duty, the drugs, the death of his team. That was simply her nature. She would push herself relentlessly, and forgive everyone else for falling behind._ _

__But Garrus won't forgive himself. He has a few duties left to attend to. He hits a button on his omni-tool. He won't leave his family with no answers. He'll at least say his goodbyes._ _

__A glance over the bridge shows there's already a fresh batch of mercs to shoot. Poor tactics. They should have waited. They can afford to wait._ _

__A curt voice comes over the connection as he's about to hang up. "Hello."_ _

__"Dad." He takes down a human and reloads._ _

__"Garrus?! Is that you? What's that noise?"_ _

__"Just a little target practice." A joke, of course. His father hates jokes, but the words were out of his mouth before he could think things through. He couldn't think anything through. His tongue was too thick with words to sort them all._ _

__"Then call me back later." Practical. Humorless. That's Dad._ _

__The breeze becomes a wind._ _

__"I don't think I'll be able to do that. Too many targets." He takes down another mech and a salarian engineer._ _

__The link is quiet long enough that he's worried the call might have dropped before his father finally says "I see."_ _

__"I just wanted to hear your voice, wanted to know how retirement was treating you. You good?" Lies. Lies. Lies. Well, other than the voice part. Polite lies. That's Shepard's fault. She was always so damn polite and careful. In the end, maybe she had taught him some diplomacy._ _

__"I'm fine. Forget about that."_ _

"Listen, I don't have a lot of time. I wanted to say ... you were right about things. A lot more than I gave you credit for. And I'm sorry we butted heads so much." _I really am sorry, Dad,_ his subharmonics sing. _I love you._

__It's quiet again, long enough for Garrus to hope for ... for something more. "I said forget about that." That's Dad. Emotions? What emotions? Work the problem. "These targets you're practicing on ... they're moving fast?"_ _

__"So far, not fast enough. But they're learning."_ _

__"How are your thermal clips?"_ _

"You know how it is. Could always use a couple more." _It's not going to happen, Dad. I can't do this much longer._ He shoots another couple of mercs and reloads. There are never enough clips. 

"Work with what you've got, then. You don't stop pulling that trigger until it clicks, son." _I love you._ It must be Garrus's imagination. That's not his father. Never a word. Never a tone. Never ... any sign of approval. It's a dream. "No matter how bad things are falling apart around you, as long as you have at least one bullet left, you can still get the job done. Understand?" _I'm proud of you._ No. He doesn't understand at all. It's the wrong number. It's ... It's ... It's too late. 

__The wind through the chasm below the bridge becomes chillingly forceful._ _

__"You finish up what you have to do there, and then you come on home to Palaven. We have a lot to sort out." A nice thought, but he doesn't have a home._ _

"Yeah. We do. Thanks, Dad. For everything." _Goodbye, you stubborn old buzzard._

He picks out another human in his scope and stops. N7? 

_The winds scoured the walls of the city, and a woman followed after._

__He chuckles to himself. It's not real. It's a hallucination. He wanted inspiration. He wanted a sign. He thought he could take a joke. Be careful what you ask the Spirits for._ _

__Shepard will come again, a just woman to strip the darkness from his soul. Of course she will._ _

__He shoots the mirage because he needs to prove to himself that she's not real._ _

__Except... except ... the bullet hits her shields and she is. The shock of it rattles through his nervous system, waking him fully._ _

_What the holy crap?_ "I have to go now. Don't worry about me. I'll make it home when I can. The odds just got a lot better." Garrus ends the call with his father and puts on his helmet to cut off the swirl of air laughing at him. 

_The woman found the detective again, lost in the Dark Cave. She said, "I have not forgotten you. Your cause will be my cause." And drew him out of the land of the dead with her._

**Author's Note:**

> Because I have this whole Garrus/FemShep series going on, I spend a lot of time thinking about turian culture. I also write a lot of things I decide I can't use.
> 
> So these are my musings on how turians tell fairytales.


End file.
